Men’s hockey moves to new house

If New Haven’s largest residential apartment owner has its way, all of Yale’s varsity sports teams may soon have customized off-campus houses to call their own.

On Oct. 5, Pike International LLC completed the renovations on a new “Hockey House” — the home to eight members of the Yale men’s varsity hockey team. Inspired by the Eero Saarinen-designed rink in which the team plays, the new house is Pike’s first customized house for a sports team, designer Fernando Pastor said, adding that the company hopes to work on similar projects on the Crown Street “sports block” in the future.

When the team decided it wanted to downsize from its previous house on Edgewood Avenue, it contacted real estate company Pike to find new housing arrangements, team captain Brian O’Neill ’12 said. After locating a house at 380 Crown St., Pike hired a 50-person construction crew to finish the project — a $165,000 renovation — in 45 days. The company hired Argentine designer Pastor to remodel the house, formerly a single-family home and more recently a barbershop, with sustainability and reusability in mind.

“In this era of scarce resources, we believe it’s our duty to reuse valuable materials from the same building we are renovating and from others that have been repurposed or demolished around town,” Even Schmitt, director of property management at Pike International LLC, said in an email.

As part of the renovations, recycled roof rafters created a screen in the building’s foyer, the hardwood floorboards and granite countertops traveled from an old house in Millbrook, N.Y. and paneled doors salvaged from Yale’s former Brewster Hall serve as the front entrance to the house.

Schmitt added that the company follows the adage “Your junk is my treasure” and finds aesthetic and functional value in items discarded by others.

Renovations on the house, which is owned by Pike and rented to the hockey players, were inspired by Eero Saarinen’s Ingalls Rink, Pastor said. A mural of one of Saarinen’s hand sketches hangs on the living room wall.

Five seniors and three juniors have been living in the Hockey House since Oct. 10. O’Neill said one of the benefits of living there is it is less expensive than living in Yale housing.

“We have more freedom,” he said. “We can cook our own meals, there’s not as much noise, and not as many distractions [as on-campus housing]. It’s not a party house.”

Nick Maricic ’13 does not live at the house but said he stops over to kick back and watch a hockey game when he gets the chance.

“Everyone [at the house] is on the same schedule,” Maricic said, “so it’s convenient for coordinating rides to practices and games because everyone is going to the same place.”

The men’s hockey season starts this weekend with an exhibition game against the University of Waterloo on Saturday night at 7 p.m.